Best Blender: Professional Series Vita-Mix

There are blenders out there and most of them work perfectly fine. If you have a narrow view of what a blender should do: make smoothies or thin down small batches of sauce or soup.

But then there's the Vita-Mix.

Ever since I went to culinary school and got my paws on a Vita-Mix for the first time, I've been in love. A lot like finding your mate, or driving a really fast car, or wearing a pair of fancy heels: oh, this is love can be, this is how a car can drive, this is what strutting down the street can be like.

This is the Vita-Mix.

I don't mean to sound like an ad-copy writer here, but it's hard not to when I'm so in love with this machine.

Okay, one critique: the pour spout kind of drips a bit after you've righted the container, but it's nothing that a sponge can't tidy up.

Now for some praise. Obviously, the machine is good at making drinks. Smoothies are as smooth as you can imagine. Smoothie-shop-style. Because of it's insane ice-crushing ability, it also make icy cocktails well. And according to the Times, Blender Drinks Are Back.

But the Vita-Mix makes ice cream, whole fruit and vegetable juices (with out and stringy much to get stuck in your teeth), breads, cakes, hot stuff (without it exploding all over the kitchen) and cold stuff. Check out the Vita-Mix company's Professional Series recipes here.

Take Ice Cream, for example: the Professional Series works so fast that mixtures have no time to melt. When used with the accelerator tool, the mixture instantly refreezes itself. With the right ingredients in your kitchen, you can literally decide to make ice cream and be eating it in a few minutes. Dangerous. Maybe I shouldn't have told you that.

Oh, one more thing I have to tell you: the price. I should mention that the Professional Series Vita-Mix retails for around $500. However, if you intend at some point to have a blender, an ice cream maker, and a juicer, this could solve all three desires in one fell swoop. Three lovers in one.